International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) International Open Access Journal ISSN No: 2456 - 6470 | www.ijtsrd.com | Volume - 1 | Issue – 6 In vitro anti-oxidant oxidant and anti anti-carcinogenic carcinogenic properties of Calotropis gigantea (L.) R. Br. in its methanolic stem extracts Jim Thomas Department of Biotechnology, Muthayammal College of Arts and Science, Rasipuram, Tamil Nadu M. Suresh Kumar Department of Zoology, Muthayammal College of Arts and Scien Science, Rasipuram, Tamil Nadu T. Selvan Kumar Department of Biotechnology, Mahendra ahendra College of Arts and Science, nce, Namakkal, Namakka Tamil Nadu ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION Medicinal plants have been an important part in the healthcare management using traditional medicine. They have contributed to the generation of novel drugs and in the treatment of various diseases. Cellular damage caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS) has been implicated in several diseases. Cancer is a major public health burden in both developed and developing countries. Anticancer activit activity is the effect of natural and synthetic or biological and chemical agents to reverse, suppress or prevent carcinogenic progression. Several synthetic agents are used to cure the disease but they have their toxicity and hence the research is going on to investigate vestigate the plant derived chemotherapeutic agents. Natural antioxidants have significant importance in human health. Calotropis gigantea,, a medicinal plant has been reported to possess different therapeutic properties. In the present study, in vitro antioxidant oxidant status and anti carcinogenic properties of C. gigantea were analysed using most commonly accepted assays that is reducing power assay and DPPH assay. The in vitro cytotoxic activity of C. gigantea extract using the MTT assay against MCF-7 and PC-3 cell lines. Medicinal edicinal plants have known to play an important role in health care. Plant based drugs or formulations are mainly used in Ayurveda for treating various human ailments because they contain the components of therapeutic value (WHO, 1993). Since ages, medicinal plants have been used by human beings for their therapeutic potential and this has led to the discovery of novel drugs against varied diseases. World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that more than 80% of the world's population depend on traditional medicine for their primary healthcare needs (Pierangeli et al.,, 2009). Higher plants continue to play an important role as sources of bioactive compounds for the maintenance of human health. Reports state that plants are a reservoir of effective chemotherapeutants, which are non-phytotoxic, non more systemic and easily biodegradable iodegradable (Vyas, 1999; Kaushik et al., ., 2002; Chaman Lal and Verma, 2006). Keywords: Calotropis gigantea, in vitro antioxidan antioxidant activity, in vitro cytotoxic activity, cell lines, MTT assay Nevertheless, free radicals can also be damaging because of their reaction with various biological molecules namely lipids, proteins and deoxyribonucleic acids resulting in the imbalance i between oxidants and antioxidants. Although the body is protected by natural antioxidants, there is always a requirement of antioxidants from natural sources (Rimbach et al., 2005). Phenolic compounds possess strong antioxidant activity and protect protec the cells against the free-radicals radicals induced oxidative damage (Kahkonen et al., 1999). They are also known as radical scavengers, metal chelators, reducing agents, @ IJTSRD | Available Online @ www.ijtsrd.com | Volume – 1 | Issue – 6 | Sep - Oct 2017 Page: 653 International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) ISSN: 2456-6470 hydrogen donors, and singlet oxygen quenchers (Proestos et al., 2006). using a rotary evaporator and stored at 4°C for further use. Antioxidants are those compounds which terminate the attack of free radicals and thereby reduce the risk of oxidative stress disorders (Rice-Evans et al., 1996). They possess free radical chain reaction breaking properties. Enzymes such as super-oxide dismutase, catalase and antioxidant compounds viz. ascorbic acid, tocopherol, phenolic acids, polyphenols, flavonoids and glutathione protect organisms from oxidative stress. Antioxidative defence mechanisms are the most effective path to eliminate and diminish the action of free radicals which cause the oxidative stress. Plants have antioxidant activities that can be helpful in reducing such free radical induced tissue injury (Kanatt et al., 2007). Reducing Power Assay Cancer is a group of diseases which are characterized by uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells, which if not controlled, can result in death. They are characterized by abnormal multiplication of cells. They are the second cause of mortality after cardiovascular diseases in developed countries and the third after infectious and cardiovascular diseases in developing countries (Bieche, 2004; Mbaveng et al., 2011). Calotropis gigantea (L.)R.Br. are glabrous or hoary, lactiferous shrubs or small trees, about 3-4 m tall commonly known as the swallow-wort or milkweed. Its stems are erect, up to 20 cm in diameter. The leaves are broadly elliptical to oblong obviate in shape, with the size of 9-20 cm x 6-12.5 cm but subsessile. The cymes are 5-12.5 cm in diameter. The inflorescence stalk is between 5-12 cm long, the stalk of an individual flower is 2.5-4 cm long. Sepal lobes are broadly egg shaped with a size of 4-6 mm x 2-3 mm. Petal is 2.5-4 cm in diameter. In the present study, the in vitro antioxidant and cytotoxic activity of the C. gigantea methanolic stem extract were studied using the MTT assay against MCF-7 and PC-3 DLA. Materials and Methods Sample Preparation Healthy parts of stem were shade dried and powdered from samples of C. gigantea (L.) R.Br. collected from Namakkal District, Tamil Nadu. Methanolic solvent stem extract was prepared using Soxhlet extraction method. The process was carried out overnight to obtain the necessary extract which was concentrated A method developed by Oyaizu, 1986 for reducing power test was used. The above sample including extract together with Ascorbic acid solutions were spiked with 2.5ml of phosphate buffer (0.2 M, pH 6.6) and 2.5ml of 1% potassium ferricyanide. The mixture was then kept in a 50°C water-bath for 20min. The resulting solution was then cooled rapidly, spiked with 2.5ml of 10% trichloroacetic acid, and centrifuged at 3000rpm for 10 min. The supernatant (5ml) was then mixed with 5ml of distilled water and 1ml of 0.1% ferric chloride. The absorbance at 700nm was then detected after reaction for 10min. The higher the absorbance represents the stronger the reducing power. The reducing power assay was expressed in terms of Ascorbic acid equivalent per gram of dry weight basis. DPPH Activity DPPH radical scavenging activity was carried out by the method of Molyneux (2004). To 1.0 ml of 100.0 μM DPPH solution in methanol, equal volume of the sample in methanol of different concentration was added and incubated in dark for 30 minutes. The change in coloration was observed in terms of absorbance using a spectrophotometer at 514 nm. 1.0 ml of methanol instead of test sample was added to the control tube. The different concentration of ascorbic acid was used as reference compound. Percentage of inhibition was calculated from the equation [(Absorbance of control - Absorbance of test)/ Absorbance of control)] × 100. IC50 value was calculated using Graph pad prism 5.0. MTT Assay Cell Lines and Culture Medium MCF-7 (Human, Breast cancer) & PC – 3 (Human prostate cancer cell line) cell cultures were procured from National Centre for Cell Sciences (NCCS), Pune, India. Stock cells were cultured in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM). Medium was supplemented with 10% inactivated Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS), penicillin (100 IU/ml), streptomycin (100 g/ml) and amphotericin B (5 g/ml) in an humidified atmosphere of 5% CO2 at 37C until confluent. The cells were dissociated with TPVG solution (0.2% trypsin, 0.02% EDTA, 0.05% glucose @ IJTSRD | Available Online @ www.ijtsrd.com | Volume – 1 | Issue – 6 | Sep - Oct 2017 Page: 654 International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) ISSN: 2456-6470 2456 in PBS). Thee stock cultures were grown in 25 cm 2 culture flasks and all experiments were carried out in 96 microtitre plates (Tarsons India Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata, India). Preparation of Test Solutions For cytotoxicity studies, each weighed test drugs were separately dissolved solved in distilled DMSO and volume was made up with DMEM supplemented with 2% inactivated FBS to obtain a stock solution of 1 mg/ml concentration and sterilized by filtration. Serially two fold dilutions were prepared from this for carrying out cytotoxic studies. Determination of Cell Viability by MTT Assays The monolayer cell culture was trypsinized and the cell count was adjusted to 1.0 x 105 cells/ml using medium containing 10% FBS and were used for the determination of cell viability by MTT assays as described escribed by Francis and Rita (1986) respectively. The absorbance was measured using a microplate reader at a wavelength of 540 nm. The percentage growth inhibition was calculated using the following formula and concentration of test drug needed to inhibit cell growth by 50% (CTC50) values is generated from the dose-response response curves for each cell line. % Growth inhibition = Results and discussion In vitro antioxidant activity There is increasing evidence that antioxidants may be useful in preventing the deleterious consequences of oxidative stress and there is increasing interest in the protective biochemical functions of natural antioxidants contained in spices, herbs and medicinal plants (Osawa, 1994; Noda et al.,., 1997). Reducing power Assay There are several other mechanisms by which antioxidants can act. One of them is by scavenging of reactive oxygen and nitrogen free radicals. There are many different experimental methods by which the free radical scavenging activity can be estimated. One such method, by which total free radical scavenging can be evaluated, is by determining their efficiency to scavenge DPPH radicals. This method is based on the reduction of DPPH, a stable free radical and any molecule that can donate an electron or hydroge hydrogen to DPPH can react with it and thereby bleach the DPPH absorption. Because of its odd electron, DPPH gives a strong absorption maximum at 514nm by visible spectroscopy (purple colour). As the odd electron of the radical becomes paired off in the presence of a hydrogen donor, that is, a free radical scavenging antioxidant, the absorption strength is decreased and the resulting decolorization is stoichiometric with respect to the number of electrons captured (Blios, 1958) therefore when the C. gigantea methanol extract were tested for the DPPH free radical scavenging ability, the methanolic extract of C. gigantea at showed strong radical scavenging activity with Inhibition percentage of 196.38 µg/ml (Table 2, Fig. 1). Whereas the reducing power assay shows the th inhibition percentage as 505.14 µg/ml (Table 1, Fig. 1). In vitro anticancer activity In this study, the cytotoxicity of the cell lines used was found to be increasing with increasing extract concentration. There was a reduction in viability i.e., 16% % and 27% in the case of PC3 and MCF7 cell lines respectively. This result was in hand with the previous reports. In spite of the development in the cancer therapies, the mortality rate associated with cancer has always stayed high. Thus, with regard to the th present scenario and the toxic side effects associated with the available treatments, there is a need for alternative methods which have higher efficacy and lesser toxic side effects. Plants are considered as the best substitute and many have been evaluated evalua in order to discover novel, potential anticarcinogenic compounds with no toxic effects (Gullett et al., 2010; Shah et al., 2013). Two main strategies adopted for the selection of plants species used in anticarcinogenic drug discovery are random screening screeni and ethno medicinal knowledge. The second approach is the use of plants of traditional medical systems like herbalism and folklore (Pieters and Vlietnick, 2005). The cell lines obtained from tumors help to investigate tumor cells in a simplified and controlled trolled environment (Makari et al., 2008). In the cancer drug discovery program, instead of mass screening of plant species, methods based on ethnobotanical and ethnopharmacological @ IJTSRD | Available Online @ www.ijtsrd.com | Volume – 1 | Issue – 6 | Sep - Oct 2017 Page: 655 International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) ISSN: 2456-6470 data would be more economical and beneficial for identifying potential anticancer molecules (Merghoub et al., 2009). Investigating the cellular growth control mechanisms have helped to understand carcinogenesis and to identify compounds with specific antitumor activities. Therefore, important preliminary data are provided by cytotoxicity screening models which help to select plant extracts with potential antitumor properties for future studies (Cardellina et al., 1999). Tables and Figures Concentration OD Value % IC50 50 0.193 32.19 100 0.198 35.61 250 0.218 49.31 750 0.225 59.10 1000 0.237 62.32 IC50 505.14 Table 1 : Reducing power Assay Figure 1: RP Assay of antioxidant activity of C.gigantea methanolic stem extract – graph Concentration OD Value % IC50 50 0.189 40.00 100 0.192 42.20 250 0.217 60.74 750 0.219 62.22 1000 0.225 66.66 IC50 196.38 Table 2 : DPPH Assay @ IJTSRD | Available Online @ www.ijtsrd.com | Volume – 1 | Issue – 6 | Sep - Oct 2017 Page: 656 International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) ISSN: 2456-6470 Figure 2: DPPH Assay of antioxidant activity of C.gigantea methanolic stem extract – graph Concentration OD Value %CTC50 CTC50 Control 0.573 - - 50 0.373 34.90 65.10 250 0.328 42.76 500 0.254 55.67 44.33 750 0.186 67.53 32.47 1000 0.095 83.42 16.58 375.04 Cell Viability 57.24 Table.3 Anti tumor activity of C.gigantea methanolic stem extract against PC3cell line Figure 3: Anti tumor activity of C.gigantea methanolic stem extract against PC cell lines - graph @ IJTSRD | Available Online @ www.ijtsrd.com | Volume – 1 | Issue – 6 | Sep - Oct 2017 Page: 657 International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) ISSN: 2456-6470 Concentration OD Value %CTC50 CTC50 Control 0.573 - - 50 0.461 19.54 80.46 250 0.377 34.20 500 0.301 47.46 52.54 750 0.268 53.22 46.78 1000 0.157 72.60 27.40 598.17 Cell Viability 65.80 Table.4 Anti tumor activity of C.gigantea methanolic stem extract against MCF7 cell lines Figure 3: Anti tumor activity of C.gigantea methanolic stem extract against PC cell lines - graph Conclusion The methanolic extract of C. gigantean was found as an effective antioxidant agent with free reducing activity as well as DPPH activity. 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Journal of Indian Botanical Society 1999; 78: 177178. @ IJTSRD | Available Online @ www.ijtsrd.com | Volume – 1 | Issue – 6 | Sep - Oct 2017 Page: 659